As the Ram Janmbhoomi campaign gained traction in 1992, BJP leader Vijaya Raje Scindia promised then-prime minister P V Narasimha Rao that nothing would happen to the Babri Masjid, and he believed her despite the advise of his ministers, revealed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar.
At the launch of senior journalist Neerja Chowdhury's book How Prime Ministers Decide, Pawar, who was the defence minister at the time of the Babri Masjid demolition, said he along with then home minister and the home secretary was present at the meeting.
There was a group of ministers and I was one of them. It was decided that the prime minister should call a meeting of leaders of the respective party, the NCP chief said. In that meeting, Vijaya Raje Scindia had assured the prime minister that nothing would happen to the Babri Masjid he said.
Pawar said that while he, the home minister and home secretary felt anything could happen, Rao chose to believe Scindia. Meanwhile, Chowdhury recalled Rao's interaction with several prominent journalists in the aftermath of the mosque demolition, in which the prime minister was asked what he was doing when the demolition occurred.